Meditation Articles Series

Tips for Mindfulness

25 Dec 2008

Itís the holiday season, and I wish you all a joyful and peaceful time with family, and loved ones. Staying equanimous and mindful during this busy season can be quite a challenge. The material pressures from our cultural conditioning can sometimes overshadow this time of the year. A meditation practice can be very helpful at this to bring you into present moment awareness. All meditation techniques have a one pointed focus so that the mind and body relax and become calm and peaceful. Anything that we do to create mindfulness and awareness brings us into the present moment.

Here are some tips that encourage you to be present and aware as you go about your day.

Breathe. Come back to your breath throughout the day. Notice how you are breathing. If you are feeling rushed, or overwhelmed take some deep breaths and breathe the breath all the way down into your belly. Put aside a minute and just focus on each in breath, and each out breath. Every time you become aware of the breath you come back to the present.

Pay attention to what you are doing. Whatever you do throughout the day, be it going to work, attending a conference, playing with your children, or something as simple as cleaning your teeth, do it with focus. Weíre encouraged to multi-task. It became a catch phrase and something to be admired. I used to become quite fragmented trying to attend to more than one thing at a time. When you give all your attention to what you are doing at any given moment you will be in the present, focused and aware. You will also find that you are calmer and more peaceful. You may even slow down and get things done more quickly.

Smile. Iíve written a few blogs now encouraging smiling. I find for myself it is so uplifting and not only gives me joy but others too. Smiling will release endorphins, and make you feel happier. Itís so simple. Are you smiling?

Let go judging yourself. How often do you hear your inner critic complaining about you, and judging you? How often do you hear it condemning you, and putting you down? Give your inner critic permanent retirement because the more you listen to it, the more it will have to say. It loves the past and all the mistakes you made. Let go the past, and self-judgment. To help you do this remember to smile, pay attention to what you are doing, and breathe.